Mass Effect: Turbulence
by Doccular
Summary: *Single point of deviation AU* First contact and beyond. One kiss sets off a chain reaction that brings together a planet of galactic newcomers and a homeless fleet. The universe will never be the same. Yet the Reaper threat remains, and a new alliances must be formed so that the galaxy can attempt to fight this ancient foe... Or die trying.


"As I look back at how far we have come in just a few short years, I feel amazed, to say the least. The steps we have taken, what we have accomplished, are far beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors. Ours was a turbulent beginning. Unpredictable. Chaotic. And yet, perfect. If but a single event had been changed, we would live in a very different day. I thank God and the Ancestors above that we do not. Today, my friends, we stand on a precipice. Our entire history has built up to these next few short moments. And it is on this day that I urge us all to look backward. To remember. " ~Admiral John Shepard, excerpt from "The Final Stand," transmitted February 8, 78 AFC

* * *

><p>-ARSS <em>Janiri's Staff. <em>0.48 Light-Years from the Sol System. August 6, 163 BFC (1945 CE), 0947 TST.

Lieutenant Commander Teyla L'Ranna grimaced as she looked up from her latest report. She sighed, wiping her face with her pale purple hand. The asari captain set the datapad gently down upon the table next to her command chair. _Another day, another status update._

"Commander, we'll be entering the system shortly," her com officer, Vera Estran, reported.

"Good. How long until we exit FTL?" L'Ranna asked.

"We'll be dropping out in approximately twenty-nine minutes, ma'am," Ensign Nasha Teel answered promptly.

"Thank you, Ensign," L'Ranna answered. Her eyes swept the small bridge of her ship. The ARSS _Janiri's Staff_ may only be a Scout-Class, but it was still a ship in the Asari Republic's Science Service. It was also one of the few asari exploration vessels currently operating in the galaxy. But even more importantly, it was _hers._ L'Ranna allowed herself a small grin as the pleasure of that thought pushed the misery of her pile of reports away. _Hers._

She allowed her gaze to wander across the room. Four of her five crewmembers sat at their positions. First Lieutenant Dana L'Kori, her first officer, sat in a chair to L'Ranna's right. The uptight blue asari had her nose buried in star charts. She was in charge of compiling the information that the team gathered and formatting it to science team standards. When the _Staff_ returned to Thessia, her work would be transmitted directly to command so that it would be added to the databases.

Sitting next to the Lieutenant was Vera Estran, the communications specialist. Estran, unlike most of the rest of the crew, was a civilian who wasn't associated with the commandos in any way. Her no-nonsense personality meshed quite well with L'Kori, and her knowledge of linguistics and galactic history had come in handy more than once on the long trip.

Ensign Teel sat directly in front of L'Ranna. It was the maiden stage commando's first extended voyage, but the young one hundred fifty year old had performed adequately over the course of their two-year mission. Of course, L'Ranna couldn't be sure until the entire seven year trip was over, but she suspected that a promotion was in store for the Ensign. If she could remember to keep her pants on for the rest of the voyage…

L'Ranna's lips contorted into a grimace as she turned to the fourth member of the bridge crew. Felina Reka was the other civilian member of her crew. She was also a maiden. And she certainly was a typical maiden. L'Ranna shook her head with a sigh. Regardless of the civilian's corrupting influence on her youngest commando, Reka was a superb science officer. Her technical expertise was phenomenal, so L'Ranna was willing to put up with some lack of discipline. But only some.

"Commander L'Ranna, Engineereing," a voice said over the intercom.

"Engineering, L'Ranna. Go ahead," the commander answered.

"Will we be dropping back to N-space soon, ma'am? I'm reading a slight static buildup in the eezo core. It isn't a problem yet, but we just discharged a week ago. I need to run some basic diagnostics." Lieutenant Jeda Odilia's voice was calm, but L'Ranna could hear some concern in her crisp alto.

"Roger that, Odilia. We'll be exiting FTL within half an hour. Lieutenant Teel will give you the exact time."

"Affirmative, Commander. Odilia out."

Science Officer Rika snorted. "Dear sweet goddess. We're using internal radios. Why does she insist on using word for word perfect procedure?"

"She's a commando, Rika. It's what we do," L'Ranna growled. "Maybe you should take a page out of her book."

Rika guffawed. "Not bloody likely."

"Felina…" Teel muttered to the snarky asari.

"Oh, fine. Forget I said anything," Rika muttered.

R'Lanna shook her head again. Odilia was her most experienced officer. Although she was outranked by Lieutenant L'Kori, Odilia had the most ship time of any crew member save R'Lanna herself. The Second Lieutenant had been with the _Staff_ since before L'Ranna had taken over, and she knew the ship better than anyone.

Despite their differences, these five asari had become like family to L'Ranna. L'Kori and Estran, the voices of wisdom. Rika, the hothead whose crazy ideas worked more often than not. Teel, the youngster. Odilia, the quiet father figure to the crew. L'Ranna had the greatest respect for her crew, and she wouldn't trade them for anyt—

Rika interrupted L'Ranna's thoughts with a loud sniff. She coughed obnoxiously before spinning her chair in a circle.

"Don't you have anything better to do, Rika?" L'Ranna asked calmly.

"Nope!"

"Felina…" Teel whispered.

"Oh! I mean, 'no, oh great and powerful future admiral, ma'am!'" Rika snapped a sloppy left-handed salute. She then proceeded to continue her spin with a maiden's innocent giggle.

"Oh, really? So, you're caught up on all your duty logs, then?" L'Ranna asked.

"Huh? Ah, well, I…" Rika stammered.

"A yes or no answer will suffice," L'Ranna said sweetly.

"Umm, yes and no?" Rika answered uncertainly.

It was Estran's turn to snort. The communications officer didn't even look at Rika.

L'Ranna smiled genuinely. "Well then, I suppose you wouldn't mind if I reviewed your logs while we wait to arrive at system… What was it, L'Kori?"

"Hi'Sol, Commander," the First Officer replied.

"Ah, Hi'Sol. I suppose your logs should give me a good thirty minutes or so of light reading," L'Ranna finished with a smile as dread spread across Rika's face.

"Umm, okay, ma'am." Rika made a gesture at her omni-tool, and a few documents popped up on L'Ranna's datapad.

"Oh my," L'Ranna said. "Only seven entries for an entire two years?"

"Uh, yes ma'am." Rika refused to meet her eyes.

"I suppose that several dozen more would have magically appeared about a week before these were due?"

"Most likely, ma'am."

L'Ranna's grin became even broader. "Well, let's see what Felina Rika deemed worthy of writing down…"

She opened the first document

"_First day aboard the _Staff._ I'm supposed to be keeping logs biweekly. I dunno if that means twice a week or every two weeks. I'm going to assume that was a mistake, and that they meant every two months. Seriously, why do I even need to do these?_"

"Oh my," L'Ranna said, barely stifling a giggle of her own. "These ought to be _quite_ entertaining."

Rika turned away and her shoulders hunched. An elcor or batarian would probably be blushing right now, but an asari was more composed. Or, at least, looked more composed. Well, at least they were incapable of blushing. Rika seemed to believe those were the same things. L'Ranna knew better.

"_It's a seven year cruise. I'll be able to get out and walk around every couple weeks when we land on planets to explore, but I suspect that I'll be spending a lot of time with my vids. And reading. But mostly vids. Guess I'll write more in two months."_

The entry ended. L'Ranna quickly opened another.

"_Hey again, stupid logbook. It's been two months. I guess I'll probably have to edit you later and change the dates and add more entries, but whatever. That's not my problem. Well, it will be, but it isn't right now."_

"Rika…" L'Ranna sighed.

"I know, I know!"

"_The rest of the crew is pretty cool. The commander is strict, but I like her. The XO and com officers are two peas in a pod. Tightwads. I don't talk to them much. Actually, I mostly just talk to Nasha Teel, the pilot. She's from Agessia too, and smoking hot. We'll be 'knocking boots' soon enough."_

"Goddess dammit, Rika…"

"Oh, come on! I didn't think you'd actually _read_ these things! Gimme a break!"

"No." L'ranna smirked.

The next entry was dated four months later.

"_Oh, hi again. I forgot about you, silly logbook. Well, I guess it's a pretty momentous day! I kissed Nasha today!"_

"No. Just no," L'Ranna said. "Rika, you know procedure. There is not supposed to be any physical relationships aboard an active scoutship without permission from the commander. And I do _not_ give out permissions in the first year."

"Hey, that applies to commandos! I'm not a commando!" Rika said defensively.

"And that's why I let it slide. But you're writing about it in an _official_ log as if it were a _diary!_" She growled. "If you were on my father's ship, he'd have you both thrown into the brig!"

Teel leaned over in her seat, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Well, this isn't a turian vessel. And those rules don't apply to outside contractors hired by the Science Service!"

"You should be extremely glad that it isn't," L'Ranna growled. She went back to reading.

"_I wasn't going to do it, but something just snapped in me. I just thought, 'what the hell,' and I kissed her. Poor girl, she was so flustered afterward that she punched the wrong coordinates into the nav computer! We ended up half a light-year from our destination. After the commander chewed her up and spat her out, we got to the right place. But you'll never guess what we saw! Seriously, you'll never guess. You're just a data log. Anyways, there was a small pirate fleet exiting the system! If we'd been on course, we'd have run right into them! We barely escaped as it was, but thank the Goddess that I'd kissed her. We might have all died if I hadn't!"_

"Oh…" L'Ranna said. "It was _that_ day, eh?"

Rika nodded. "Yeah. I guess we're lucky that I'm a rule breaker!"

"No, we're lucky that we missed the pirates. That has nothing to do with your rule breaking."

"Whatever," Rika said, waving the comment off.

The next several logs contained absolutely useless information that L'Ranna skimmed over. She even blushed heavily at some points. "Rika…"

The science officer didn't even answer.

Finally, L'Ranna came to the most recent log.

"_Well, today was terribly eventful. We came across a derelict vessel in between systems. It was old. Ancient even. It looked like the thing had been drifting in space since Prothean times! It wasn't Prothean, but it had a similar design. We boarded it cautiously. It was uneventful, at least until we got to the bridge. The room locked down, and several old combat VI's activated and powered up some attack drones. They fired on us. The Commander kept them off us until Estran and I could get the drone powered down._

"_The ship detached itself from the _Staff_, and Odilia and Nasha were left all by themselves on the ship. We managed to redock, but more drones attacked. The XO took a hit, but it wasn't bad. Fortunately, the Commander is our medical officer. She treated the wound, and we continued onward. There wasn't much left in the ship. It must have been stripped clean years ago._

"_However, we did find one thing of interest. In the crew's quarters, I found a hidden panel. It hid a small opening, and I found something inside. It was an odd device, and it tingled when I picked it up. I felt weird afterward, but I can't really remember why. It was giving off some strange signal and a bit of radiation, so the Commander locked it in our isolation storage area when we got back to the ship. The discovery went into my record, so I should see a nice bonus when we get back to Thessia! Woo!"_

"So that's it? For two whole years?" L'Ranna asked, unimpressed.

"Yeah, it is."

L'Ranna sighed. "Rika, you're a good kid. But if I get in trouble from this when I get back to Thessia, if I'm kept away from my husband and girls for even one _second_ longer than needed, if I have to write even more paperwork to make up for what you didn't do... I will probably have a bad day. And if my day is bad, yours will be far worse." She glared pointedly.

Rika gulped. "Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Rika. Also, since there seems to be no stopping you two, I suppose I should approve your little liaison with Teel. Just keep it private and when you're off shift."

Teel beamed at the commander and her lover. "Ma'am, thank you so m—"

"Commander, I've got something over here," L'Kori interrupted.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" L'Ranna strode over to her XO.

"Estran's sensors just picked this up." She beckoned at the communication sensor equipment. "Looks like radio transmissions."

L'Ranna gazed at the displays. "That it does. Bring up the information on the system. Any data on sentient life in the system?"

"Loading up," Estran said. "Here it is, ma'am. Looks like the third planet is home to life. The last known vessel in the system was one of our probes, and it was here over one thousand years ago. The probe's information is brief. Life was feudal when it came through. Preindustrial. If standard development holds true, the species is probably two hundred years from space travel today."

"But advanced enough to have radio." L'Ranna stated.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I guess we should prep a first contact probe. We'll take a scan of the planet, then enact the protocol depending on the status of the species. We'll prepare a beacon to send to the Citadel with info for if they decide to uplift the primitives."

"Yes, ma'am." L'Kori said.

"Ensign Teel, how long until we arrive in system?"

"Two minutes, ma'am." Teel replied.

"Good, thank you." L'Ranna activated her communicator. "Odilia, L'Ranna."

"L'Ranna, Odilia. Go ahead, Commander."

"Two minutes to N-space arrival. Get ready down there."

"Aye, ma'am."

L'Ranna sat back down in her command chair. "Okay, people. Showtime."

Just a few minutes later, the _Staff_ made the smooth transition back into normal, or N, space. The redshift ceased, and the universe returned to normal colors as the mass effect field dissipated. The _Staff_ was the first of a new line of asari scoutships. It incorporated a more powerful drive core. It was expensive and had taken many years of R&D, but the ship's design would be a pivotal change in ship design within the next twenty or thirty years, or so L'Ranna had been informed.

The _Staff _made its way to the system's only terrestrial planet. The ship's drive core performed perfectly, and the ship slid neatly into orbit.

"Rika, what do your sensors say?" L'Ranna asked.

"Scan confirms the probe's report. 1.06 AU orbital distance, 1.11 years orbital period, 0.87 standard rotation, 23 degrees C surface temp, 0.91 standard gravities, and 1.06 Thessian standard masses. Pretty normal stuff here."

"Okay. What about those radio signals?" L'Ranna asked.

"I'm picking up radio signals all over the world, but particularly on in their northern hemisphere. It's all pretty— Oh my Goddess…" Rika's face contorted in horror.

"What? What's going on?" L'Ranna demanded.

"Holy Ones… I think they just detonated a nuclear device…"

L'Ranna and the others except Estran crowded around the science officer's screen. They all gasped in horror as the information came through. Sure enough, a _planetary _nuclear explosion had just occurred, right before their eyes.

"The island that they hit… Was it unpopulated? A test?" Teel asked quietly.

"Let me scan," Rika replied numbly. "... Goddess. It is populated. They just nuked themselves."

"Barbarians," L'Ranna growled. "That settles it. First contact protocol _ballat, _not _a'klir_, is in effect. We drop the first contact probe out in orbit around another planet. Hopefully, these primitives will pull their act together before they find it. That way, we won't have another group of krogans flying around the galax—"

"Commander!" Estran exclaimed. The communications officer looked positively giddy. "I didn't want to interrupt until I was sure, but you _have_ to see this!"

"What now?" L'Ranna growled.

"It's a signal! Very weak, almost out of power."

"What about it?" The commander asked.

"Ma'am, it's… It's Prothean!"

"What?" L'Ranna exclaimed. She rushed over to the other sensor display. "Athame. It _is_. This is our lucky day, ladies. Rika, prep the first contact probe, and get a report ready to send to the Council. Make sure they know that these monsters should _not_ be uplifted anytime soon. And make sure this report is more mature." L'Ranna's grin threatened to split her face in two. "Teel, set a course for… The fourth planet. South pole."

"Aye, ma'am!" two voices chorused.

"Estran, how is that signal still transmitting after fifty thousand years? And why didn't we pick it up before?"

Estran straightened her neck. "I'm not certain, ma'am. But if I had to guess, I'd say that it's probably an emergency broadcast. The facility must have entered an emergency low power mode within the last thousand years, so it's trying to signal for its creators to come back for it. It must have been off when the probe came through so long ago."

L'Ranna smiled. "As good a guess as any. And congratulations, I might add. This will look absolutely fantastic in your record. Finding a Prothean facility…"

Estran gave the shoulder scrunch that replaced a blush in their species. "Thank you, ma'am."

The ship sped toward the smaller planet, and L'Ranna couldn't contain her happiness. Sure, thousands of primitives may have just died. But they'd discovered a genuine _Prothean_ ruin! Never before seen! Why, this was—

"Ma'am! We're… We're being hailed by the facility…" L'Kori's voice was filled with awe.

"What? Well, put it up! Translators on!"

A brilliant orange light filled her viewscreen, and the face of an oddly formed VI filled the screen. "**Asari primitives detected. Initiating translation module."**

"Ma'am, the translator is working, but it's translating from ancient Thessian!" Estran exclaimed.

L'Ranna cleared her throat. A Prothean VI. A real one… "This is Commander Teyla L'Ranna of the ARSS _Janiri's Staff._ We are most honored to be speaking with you, Prothean."

"**Vessel scan in progress… Please await further notifications…"**

Teel looked up from the flight consol. "Ma'am, we're in low orbit directly above the ruin. Further orders?"

"Wait here. We need to hear what he says before we do anything. Is the message almost ready, Rika?"

"Yeah, almost done."

"Excellent. Now, all we have to do is w—"

"**INDOCTRINATION DEVICE DETECTED. INITIATING PROTOCOL DEFIANCE."** The Prothean VI suddenly cut communications to the asari vessel.

"Wha.. What does that mean?" Teel asked.

"Indoctrination device?" L'Ranna asked. "What is that supposed to b—"

"MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED!" The ship's VI boomed. "IMPACT IN FIFTEEN SECONDS."

R'Lanna's face went blank with horror. She vaguely felt herself shout at Teel, "_Evasive maneuvers, now!"_

"Aye-aye, ma— No! Ma'am, the controls, I can't—" Teel screamed when her console exploded in a brilliant flash of sparks. The whole ship shook as a massive overload blast hit the bridge.

"_Bridge, engine room! We've lost power! We—"_

L'Ranna blocked everything out. She shoved past a sobbing Rika and reached for a huge red button on the sensor console. She had to send a distress signal! The Council, or Thessia, they needed to know about the ruins! They needed it to—

"IMPACT IMMINENT. IMPACT IMMINENT. IMPACT IMMINENT. IMPACT IM—"

The ship broke cleanly in half as the Prothean missiles precisely targeted the cargo hold that contained the contaminated device that the VI had detected. Most of the crew died instantly. Rika felt nothing as her body was pierced by an exploded console. Estran and L'Kori were incinerated painlessly by the explosion that destroyed the sensory and communication array. Teel had already passed into the afterlife when vacuum claimed her body. Odilia survived the first volley, but her life left her empty bones when the ship crashed into a preexisting crater on the planet known to the humans as Mars.

But L'Ranna did not die immediately. Her limp body was flung out into space. Her suit automatically activated when vacuum was detected, and oxygen began to flow. She had a brief moment of horror to realize what had just happened. She had missed the distress signal button. They had never launched the first contact probe. They never sent a message to the Citadel. Nothing. All they had done, everything they'd completed in those two years… Gone in a flash.

She watched helplessly as her ship plummeted to the planet. It fell swiftly downward and crashed into the wall of a huge ancient crater right near what must have been the Prothean ruin.

The Protheans. She laughed hysterically. All they had worked for. Her life's work was looking for the smallest remains from that great civilization. And then they killed her. Killed her.

Lieutenant Commander Teyla L'Ranna closed her eyes as she plummeted downward to the planet as gravity finally grabbed her. She knew the ground was approaching quickly. She could feel it in her bones.

"Goddess… Watch over my daughters. Hold Levvik in Your arms… Maybe give him a turian wife, eh? So he can have some birdy babies to match his blue ones…"

She smiled and held back a sob. "I never even got to say goodb—"

The final bit of power was purged from the Protean base as a limp body smashed into the ground. The red planet stood still. Unthinking. Unmoving. Unfeeling.

But a single red light blinked on the planet, and the device waited in a crater, surrounded by the dead.

* * *

><p>-...accessing Systems Alliance codex information…<p>

-...one moment please…

-...review precontact history Y/N?

**-**...**y**

-...review prespace history y/n?

**-**...**n**

-...history codex accessed… initiating…

-139 BFC. The human race puts a man on Luna in 1969 CE, which was their date reckoning.

-44 BFC. The last major land wars break out. In the aftermath, several new national coalitions are formed. The major players in the new order are the United North American States, the European Union, and the Chinese People's Federation. Peace accords are signed in 2065 CE in the wake of the non-nuclear World War III, and humanity begins to cautiously work together to reach for the stars above.

-39 BFC. Four years after the day that the peace treaties are signed, known as Unity Day, humans found their first permanent settlement on Luna. Called Armstrong Outpost, the settlement is named after the famous first man to walk on Luna. It is founded on July 20, 2069 CE, exactly 100 years after the first walk upon the moon's surface.

-38 BFC. Victor Manswell funds the first private spaceflight expedition. The expedition launches five years later.

-20 BFC. Plans for the European Space Agency's first non-Earth settlement are finalized. Construction in Eos Chasma on Mars is to begin in ten years, in 2098 CE.

-5 BFC. The first section in the EU's Mars settlement, Lowell City, is complete. The settlement is little more than a science outpost for the first three years, but it is entirely self-sufficient for a crew of twenty-three. Expansion into a larger settlement begins in 2 BFC, or 2106, and the city grows to a population of two hundred forty-three.

-2 BFC. Dr. Johannes Shepard, Non-Terran Excavation Specialist, transfers to Lowell City at the age of twenty-three. He is the youngest graduate of the first class in Martian Excavation, a new course offered at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

-...review contact event y/n?

**-**...**n**

-...awaiting further instruction…

-...**end session**

-...logging you out, Shepard.

* * *

><p>ESA Rover VK-129. Promethei Planum, Mars. December 24, 1 BFC (2107 CE), 0300 TST.<p>

Dr. Shepard clung tightly to his seat as the rover bounced over the uneven Martian terrain. His suit clung to him tightly, and his helmet brushed against the back of his head. The German national bit back a swear when one of the toolboxes contained within the vehicle came loose from its restraints and tumbled into the floor.

"Bedoya, can you take it a bit easier up there?" he called up to the cockpit.

"_Si, _I can try, sir. The ground is extremely rough up ahead," his driver responded with a thick Spanish accent.

"Thank you," Shepard said. He unbuckled his own restraints and moved to pick up the fallen tools. Shepard sighed as he gathered the equipment together again.

"Need any help, Doc?"

Shepard looked up from his work to see the third and final member of the team enter the main room of the rover from the lav's door. "No, I've got it, Miss Merau."

The blonde woman let out a light giggle. "Sir, we've been on this expedition for over a week now. We'll be celebrating Christmas together, for goodness sake! You can call me Genna, if you'd like."

Shepard straightened his back and returned her smile. "Okay then, Genna. But only if you call me Joe."

Genna cocked her head sideways. "Joe? I thought your name was Johannes?"

"Yes, it is. But my father was American, so I use the American nickname."

"Oh, okay then… Joe!" She flashed him a gorgeous smile.

"Hey! You can both call me Manuel, you know? You can't just leave me up here, alone without any _amigos_!" their driver shouted from the front.

Joe laughed. "Okay, okay, Manuel. We should have gone by first names a while ago."

"Well, ESA policy doesn't really approve too much of fraternization on the job," Genna said. "Pretty dumb, if you ask me. We're on another planet away from almost every other human being. If we don't need to be friends, then nobody does."

"True, true," Joe replied and grinned.

Genna strapped herself back into her seat. Her standard issue brown and grey ESA Mars uniform, complete with regulation helmet and full walker kit even within the confines of the rover's main hold, matched perfectly up against the rover's interior. She opened a book and pulled out a photograph. Joe couldn't see through her helmet, but he suspected that she was smiling.

"You have family back on Earth?" he asked as he strapped himself back into his own seat.

"Yeah," she replied. "Got a mom, dad, and two kid brothers back in Canada."

"Oh, Canadian, eh?" Joe smirked as she shook her head.

"Oh, haha. Funny. They're living in Canada now, but I was born and raised in France. Went to school there too before we all moved to the UNAS. Started in New York and slowly made our way north. They ended up in Canada, and I ended up coming back to France when the ESA said it was going to Mars. I always wanted to see the stars, and mars seemed like a good first step." She put her photograph away. "But yeah, I've got family. I miss them a lot."

"I'm missing mine too," Joe said. "My parents are still living in Berlin. They're actually working on a little sister for me, apparently. Kinda shocked, but I guess that means that my kids will have an aunt only a few years older than them. Just hoping my mom will be okay."

Genna nodded. "Ah, so there's a Mrs. Shepard working on some kids for you two then?"

Joe laughed. "Oh, not yet. I'm married to the job for now. Once Lowell gives out marriage licenses though, watch out! I expect that little Shepards will take over the galaxy."

"Well, just make sure your girlfriend is okay with that then," Genna said with another giggle. Her slight French accent shone through, and her words gained a slightly musical air to them.

"Oh, there's no girlfriend either. I was serious about being married to the job. Everythings on hold right now. There's just too much to do…"

"Well, good luck with that, Doc. You do realize that it takes a woman Shepard as well as a man Shepard to make tiny Shepards, right? You _might _want to work on getting a lady before planning for children…" Manuel said from the cockpit.

"Thank you, Manuel. I had no idea. Tell me, did you have to get a master's in biology to provide that amazing insight?" Joe quipped.

"Yessir! I got it from the university of 'Four Kids and Counting.' Mrs. Bedoya was an excellent teacher."

Genna laughed. "Four kids? Wow, Manuel. I guess you took that idea about populating the galaxy seriously."

"_Si, se__ñ__orita! _We've got a big job ahead of us!"

Joe shook his head. "How about you, Genna? You planning on doing your part?"

Genna nodded. "Oh, yes. Space is huge, and beautiful. I can't think of anywhere better to raise my kids."

"How about somewhere that they can breathe the atmosphere?" Manuel said. The rover shook violently. Manuel's curse floated back into the main hold.

"Easy…" Joe growled.

"Sorry, sir. Didn't see that boulder."

"It's fine. Just pay attention to the road. or ground. Whatever. I miss roads," Joe said.

"You and me both, _se__ñ__or. _You and me both."

Genna steered them back to the conversation. "Well, an atmosphere would be nice, but kids can be taught safety procedures, and you can palmlock anything dangerous to keep them from hurting themselves."

"True, true," Joe replied. "So, got a picture of a future Mr. Merau in there?"

Genna shook her head. "Nah, not right now. I'm pretty much like you. Married to the job, and I'm fiercely monogamous. There'll be time for that later, especially if I meet the right man."

Joe chuckled. "Well, good luck with that. The pickings seem slim on Mars. Especially with Manny up there taken."

"Manny, eh?" the driver said. "I can live with that."

Genna laughed too. "Oh, Manny. If you weren't taken…"

"Woah, woah. I haven't even given you a nickname yet! I don't think I'm ready for that yet! _Loca! _Hey, that's a name! I think I'll call you _Loca._ That fits."

"So, Manny, Doc, and Loca walk into a Martian bar…" Genna said.

Manny groaned. "No, please don't!"

Joe opened his mouth to reply, but a beeping noise from a nearby console interrupted him. "Woah, slow down, Manny."

"Aye, slowing."

The rover came to a complete stop. Joe unstrapped himself once more and strode to the flashing console. "_Was vom Teufel…_"

"What is it, Doc?" Manny asked.

"It's a signal. Kinda faint, but it looks like…" Joe squinted at the display. The meter, a specialized multi spectrum geiger counter, kept peaking out on a specific frequency over and over in a distinct pattern. "If I'm seeing this right, it looks like it's something like morse code… But in radiation."

"What?" Genna asked. She unstrapped as well and looked past Joe to see the instrument. "I'll be damned… Is it a probe or something? Did we land a rover around here?"

"No," Joe replied. "We've done a cursory flyover, but we're out here as the first in-depth look at the area. Nothing has ever been anywhere near here…"

"Then what is it?" Manny asked. The enormous man climbed out of the cockpit and lumbered into the main room.

"It's… Something," Joe replied.

"No shit, Sherlock," Manny blurted.

"Manny!" Genna scolded.

Manny rumbled, "Sorry. What I meant to say was, 'No shit, Sherlock, _sir._'"

"You know what? I like you, Manny," Joe said.

"I like me too, sir. But seriously sir, what is it?"

Joe sighed and wracked his brain for a moment before slowly speaking. "I have absolutely no clue. It could be some project that Earth had launched in the twentieth century, some kind of natural phenomenon, an error with the instrument, or…"

"Or what, sir?" Genna prompted.

"Well, don't call me crazy. I only include this to cover all options. It might be…" Joe's voice trailed off again.

Genna held up her hands. "Sir, if you say aliens…"

"Aliens."

Manny sighed. "Great. Now I'm gonna get abducted, and all the little ones will have to grow up without a father figure."

"Hey, don't say that, Manny," Genna quipped. "They might just kill us outright! Spooky aliens. Spooooooooky!"

"Both of you," Joe said quietly. "This isn't a joke. We need to check this out. Genna, call Command. Manny, I'm going to feed you directions. We can't get coordinates, but we can go off the general area from which the signal originates."

"Aye, heard." Genna composed herself and walked over to yet another console. She punched in several numbers.

"Just tell me where to go, sir." Manny walked back into the cockpit.

Joe powered up the rest of the sensor console. Since the rover's assignment was the placement of sensor towers to monitor weather patterns and scan for geological anomalies, they had a fully rigged Mk. III sensor array. Most of the rover's mass was to support the massive equipment, and they even had to have a trailer to haul all the sensor arrays.

"Lowell Exploration Command, ESA Rover Victor Kilo One Two Niner. Come in, Lowell Exploration Command, over," Genna said clearly into the radio.

"One Two Niner, Command. We read you, over," a voice replied.

"Okay, Manny. Take us south by southwest, 200.4 degrees," Joe said.

"Aye." The rover revved into motion at the control of the gigantic man.

Genna continued her conversation. "Command, we've picked up an anomalous signal on the sensor array. It's some form of radiation, but it's doing some odd things to our instruments, over."

"One Two Niner, what exactly is it doing to your instruments? Is this really worth radioing back unscheduled about this?"

Joe waved at Genna. She handed him the radio handset. "Command, this is Dr. Shepard, One Two Niner's science specialist and ranking officer. Sir, the radiation we're detecting isn't standard for Mar's spectrum. That itself wouldn't be enough to warrant attention, but it's alternating between increased and decreased power. And it's a repeating pattern. Sir, I've never seen anything like this. It looks similar to morse code, but it's not any code that I know. I've also never seen any piece of human equipment that uses this frequency of radiation as a signal. I ordered my team closer to investigate, but I'm requesting Command's orders on how to proceed. Over."

The radio remained silent for a few moments. "One Two Niner, I'm transferring you to Captain Davis. He heard all of this and wants to speak to you."

Joe swallowed. Davis was Lowell City's Executive Officer, and, by all accounts, a total hardass.

"One Two Niner, this is Davis. Shepard, you're the officer on site. What do you think this is? Over." The voice that spoke was a grim baritone.

"Command. Sir, to be frank, I have no idea what it is. From my briefing, we're the first humans to investigate this area. We've had flyovers, but nothing in-depth yet. It doesn't seem Earth based because the pattern doesn't match any typical communication patterns, and the radiation isn't similar to our signals at all, so I don't think it's ours. It's following a specific pattern and is unlike anything else we've seen on the planet, so I doubt that it is natural. It can't be an error with our equipment. I just finished a diagnostic forty minutes ago, and it's clean. It's also consistent, so that further rules out an error. That's about all I can say so far without needing a psych eval when I come back to base, sir. Over."

"One Two Niner. Let's say this conversation is off the record and that the shrinks aren't listening. What else would you be able to say? Over." Davis' voice resounded in Joe's skull, and the scientist shuddered.

"Command… I think we both know what I'm thinking here. The only possible answer is that it's Earth based, but that seems extremely unlikely. And when we've eliminated the possible… Sir, it may be time to consider this a Foxtrot Charlie event. Over." Joe closed his eyes and put his head in his hand. If the psych officers heard this and he was wrong…

"One Two Niner. I agree with your assesment.I'm waking up the Chief Science Officer and her team. I'll have them look over the logs and see if drones or anything that could create a signal matching your description has ever been in the area. Can you send us the stats on that reading? Over."

Joe sighed in relief. "Command, can do. I'm sending the readings now." Genna nodded and moved to the console immediately and did as he said. joe smiled. He adored competent crewmates. "However, we are already on approach to source of the signal. Do you want us to continue our approach, or await further orders? Over."

"One Two Niner, I'm authorizing you to approach whatever the source of this signal is. Be cautious and keep us appraised of any developments. Over."

"Command. Roger that. We'll keep you in the loop. Over," Joe said with a smile.

"One Two Niner. Much appreciated, Shepard. We'll be in touch when the science team arrives. Command out."

Joe let out a deep breath.

"Doc… _Merde_…" Genna whispered. "Are you sure? Foxtrot Charlie? First Contact?"

Joe put his head into his hands again. "No, Genna. I have no idea. But I've never seen a signal like this before. I highly doubt that it's one of ours, so that means aliens seems like the most plausible option…"

"Christ. I never thought I'd hear those words." Genna shook her head.

"And I never thought I'd say them. Not in a thousand years." Joe smiled beneath his helmet. He glanced back at the sensor display. "Manny, slight course adjustments. Take us two degrees further south and keep on driving."

"Aye," the bass voice rumbled.

After a few minutes, the radio crackled to life again. "Victor Kilo One Two Niner, Command. Come in Victor Kilo One Two Niner. Over." It was a new voice this time, a high soprano with a slight Italian accent. Joe recognized his boss' voice and grinned. They'll get to the bottom of this.

"Command, Victor Kilo One Two Niner. We read you. This is Dr. Sheppard, over."

"One Two Niner, this is Chief Science Officer Dr. De Palma. I hear that you might have a possible Foxtrot Charlie event on your hands. Can you confirm, over?"

"Command. Yes, ma'am. Foxtrot Charlie is indeed a possibility." Joe's face tightened and he pursed his lips. "Have you seen the readings that we sent you? Over."

"One Two Niner, we've seen the readings. I have my team scouring past reports and historical accounts going all the way back to the beginning, but it's not looking likely on that front. You were right. The signal is a really… Well, it may be unscientific, but it's a _weird_ form of Gamma radiation. We'll need you to take a closer reading to know more. But we can tell you a few things. No one uses this kind of radiation for communication. For one thing, it's potentially damaging to our own equipment. This could fry our circuit boards with prolonged exposure. For another, none of us over here have ever seen anything quite like it. Without going too in depth, it defies some of the things that we know about the Electromagnetic Spectrum. The guys back on Earth will have a field day about this. Over."

Joe raised the handset back to his mouth. "Command, roger that. Should we take any precautions with the rover when we approach? Over."

"One Two Niner. It could be dangerous, but most likely only with an extended exposure. I'd advise you to keep the rover a half kilometer away from whatever is producing the signal, at the very least. Over."

"Command. We'll do that. The signal is getting considerably stronger, so I suspect that we're nearing the source. Any idea what might be out here waiting for us? Over."

"One Two Niner. You're still on Promethei Planum. From where we put you on radar, you're approaching a large ancient crater. It's really the only thing of interest in the area. We wouldn't be surprised if that's what you're looking for. Over."

Genna cocked her head to the side. "Sir. If this _is_ an alien signal and it's coming from a crater that's been on the planet for a while, why haven't we picked this signal up before now?"

"Excellent question…" Joe nodded at his mechanic. "Great work, Genna."

"Thanks." She nodded back.

"Command. My engineer just brought something up. If the signal is of extraterrestrial origin, why haven't we picked it up before now? You just said that it's not a new crater. Shouldn't we have seen this years ago? Over."

"One Two Niner. You're the first in depth look that we've sent into the area. There's nothing geologically significant about the area, so we've only done brief drone flyovers of the crater. The drones didn't have the sensor capacity that you do."

"Command. Roger, I hear you." Joe glanced at the display. "The signal is getting stronger. We should be approaching the source shortly. Over."

"One Two Niner. Roger. Captain Davis has requested that you use a helm cam when you approach the source so that we can have vid record of it. Over."

"Command. Can do. We'll be in contact again shortly. I expect that we'll be arriving soon. One Two Niner out."

Manny's voice rumbled from the cockpit. "Doc, we're at the crater. You need to see this."

Joe climbed into the cockpit and gasped. "Is that…"

"Yeah. It's another crater."

The rover sat upon the edge of the great Promethei Planum crater. But the crater wasn't what drew Joe's eye. On the edge of the crater beside them, about halfway down to the bottom, was a second crater. It looked like it had been a much smaller impact than the main crater, but it was still enough to make what Joe judged to be a quarter kilometer diameter crater.

Joe tapped a few buttons on the command tablet connected to his wrist. A small camera popped up from his suit's shoulder. He tapped another key, and his suit radio activated. It was weaker than the main rover radio, but the mobility it granted made up for it.

"Command, are you seeing this?"

The others didn't reply for a moment. When they did, De Palma's voice was extremely calm. "One Two Niner, we are receiving transmission. Is that where the signal is coming from? Over."

Joe looked at his readings. "Command, that's an affirmative. Now, I may be just a mining specialist, but that doesn't look like any meteorite crater I've ever seen before. It just looks… Off. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something's weird with the shape. Am I right, or should I stick with minerals and drills? Over."

De Palma laughed into the radio. "One Two Niner. No, you're right. The team is confirming it. That doesn't look natural. We'll let you know when we find out what's wrong with it. Wait a moment, Shepard. The Admiral just joined us. We'll need to brief him. Hang tight for a bit. Command out."

Joe sighed. Now Lowell City's commanding officer was involved too. The science team back at command must think it's pretty serious.

"_Dios mio…_ You were right, Doc," Manny said uncharacteristically quietly. "It's gotta be some kind of ship."

"Yeah. I don't know how I feel about th—"

"Doc, I need you in here." Genna's quick comment cut Joe off.

He stepped back into the main hold. "What is it?"

Genna pointed at another display. "Sensor array is picking up a dust storm forming about thirty kilometers from us and closing fast. It looks like it's going to be big and probably end up right on top of us within a few hours if it doesn't change course."

"_Helvete_," Joe muttered. "Just what we need. That'll cut our coms off for God knows how long."

"'_Helvete_?' Now you curse in Swedish too?" Genna shook her head. "Among the three of us, we can probably offend mothers in half a dozen languages."

John snorted. "Sorry. My best friend in Germany was Swedish. I picked up some of his bad habits. I pick up languages really easy anyways. I speak seven. Plus, cursing in different languages is practically a Lowell City tradition."

"No way." Genna's voice carried a tone of respect. "That's really impres—"

"Guys. Did you say there was a dust storm coming? I mean, we could talk about our childhoods, or we could focus on the actually important things," Manny said.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, Doc. We'll have to have storytime later." Genna lightly punched him in the arm. "Anyways, the storm looks like it could be nasty. You might want to tell command."

"Agreed," Joe replied. "I will, just as soon as they radio back."

"One Two Niner, Command. Come in One Two Niner. Over."

"Speak of the devil…" Joe muttered. "Command, One Two Niner. Go ahead, over."

"One Two Niner, Admiral Erikson has been briefed on the situation. He has given the go ahead for you to approach the crash site. Or crater. Whatever it is. Over."

"Command. Approaching now. Also, we're picking up a dust storm on our sensors over here. It looks like it'll be here in…" Joe glanced back at the display. "... three hours or so. It's pretty big. We may be out of radio contact for a while if it hits. Over."

Manny slowly began the approach down the crater's wall. The rover bounced on the way down, and joe thanked God for the invention of shocks. The crew held onto their handles tensely as the rover made the treacherous journey.

Command took a moment to answer him. "One Two Niner. We're receiving that data. This is not the best timing ever. If we end up losing communication with you, the Admiral has authorized you to act as you see fit. 'The ball will be in your court,' were his exact words. He also said to not screw it up. Over."

"Great…" Joe muttered. "Just what I wanted to hear." He clicked his radio back on. "Command. Roger that. Our approach is almost complete. We'll be stopping half a kilometer short of the smaller crater as advised. We'll make the rest of the trek on foot. We'll take one of the sensors and set it up so you can get in depth readings. We'll maintain audio and visual contact for as long as possible unless the storm cuts us off. Over."

"One Two Niner, roger that. We're seeing it on our sensors now too. It's looking pretty nasty… Do you think you'll be safe if it hits? We don't want to risk you. Over."

Joe looked at his crew. "Thoughts?"

Manny answered, "We can take cover in the rover. I'll be able to put us in lock down, so we won't be moving anywhere. Besides, you've got all excited for aliens. You can't close that door once it's been opened."

"I couldn't agree more," Genna added. "It doesn't look too bad. I had a worse one hit two months ago. We might get a bit tired of each other after a bit, but I brought cards." Sure enough, she pulled a deck out of her bag. "We'll be fine."

Joe smirked. "Okay then." He hit the radio command on his wristpad. "Command, we should be fine in the rover. The crew wants to check the crater out before it hits though. We'll take a brief look and get into cover before it's on us, over."

"One Two Niner. Okay. Just make sure you have that video running when you approach. if this is Foxtrot Charlie, you'll be in the history books soon. Just don't try to say anything witty. You're no Neil Armstrong. Over."

Manny and Genna chuckled and Joe smirked. "Command, the rest of the crew seems to agree. Just make sure you spell my name right when you build a new city named after me. Victor Kilo One Two Niner out."

"Okay, Doc. We're half a kilometer from the crater. Ready to hoof it?" Manny asked.

"Yep. If you can grab half of a sensor array, I'll get the other part. We'll set it up right outside the crater and link it into our wristpads. Genna, can you get the radio transmitter? That may help our coms cut through the storm."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

><p>Genna could barely keep herself from skipping as they made their way to the crater. Despite carrying the somewhat bulky radio transmitter, the light gravity of Mars made her feel as light as a feather. And the concept of first contact certainly didn't lower her spirits.<p>

Manny walked right beside her. The lumbering giant hummed to himself. He carried an enormous metal object that Genna recognized as half of the sensor array as well as a backpack stuffed full of emergency supplies. Doc didn't want them taking any chances with the storm coming, so they had enough food and water to last a few days as well as basic first aid supplies.

Doc himself walked in front of the pair. The commanding officer had grabbed his portion of the equipment and headed off toward the crater at a brisk pace. He hadn't said a word after telling them what to grab. Of course, it wasn't a very long walk, but he had still been silent for almost ten minutes. The slanted ground leading to the crater was somewhat difficult to traverse, so his "brisk" pace was still slow by Gemma's usual standards. She knew that he must be feeling the pressure. He was the commanding officer on the sight of what might be humanity's first contact with an alien species. The prospect was daunting, to say the least.

She sped up and moved forward to walk beside him. "How ya doing, Doc? I guess it's a pretty big day."

"Yeah…" His voice was distant and distracted. He shook his head. "I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking. It's just..."

"We woke up this morning, and it was just another day. But now, we know that it's a day that our children, _everyone's children_, might be talking about until the end of history. And you're in charge," Gena said softly. "It's hard, but I've got your back. Manny too."

Doc nodded. "Thanks, Genna. You said it perfectly. I can't get it out of my head. My kids going to school and learning about how their dad met the aliens… I just wonder what they'll say about us."

"They'll say that the two brave men and the astonishingly beautiful woman met the tentacle faced creatures and became best friends immediately! As soon as they learned to speak the same language," Genna chirped.

"Oh, the beautiful woman, eh? No mention of the handsome doctor who boldly led the way into the new age of enlightenment?" Doc quipped.

"Haha," Genna laughed. "Oh, fine. The handsome doctor,, the beautiful engineer, and the brave rover drive met the aliens, and everyone lived happily ever after. After the aliens learned English, that is."

"Spanish," Doc said.

Genna faced him. "What was that?"

"I'll teach the aliens Spanish first," Doc replied. "It's a lot simpler, more internally coherent, and its spelling is pretty much phonetic, which will help teach the aliens our alphabet."

"Oh," Genna said. She went quiet for a second. "You just decide that on the walk?"

"Yeah. I can't help it. My mind's going a mile a minute."

A smile crept across Genna's face. "Mine too. And I feel like my heart is so light that I'll float right off into the sky."

"So it's not just me? That's good to know." Doc laughed, and Genna joined in. She liked the doctor. He seemed like a good guy.

"Looks like this is it," Manny rumbled. The trio stopped their descent. The second crater's edge broke through the first's abruptly. Gemma looked over the edge and gasped at what she saw.

"Oh, _mon dieu_!"

There, right in the center of the crater, right beside a massive pile of rocks that partially covered and heavily camouflaged it, was part of a spacecraft. It was covered in red dust, but the contour of an elegant hull was unmistakable.

She vaguely heard Doc talking next to her. "Command… Are you getting this? Over."

A gruff voice through the radio in her helmet brought her back to the present. "Shepard, this is Command-Actual. We're seeing this. Congratulations, son. Welcome to the future. Over." Admiral Ericson's voice teemed with pride.

"And the bloody history books," Manny added softly. He stood beside Genna, obviously just as in awe as she felt.

"Command, we're setting up our sensor and the radio transmitter. Then we'll get down to the crash site. Over." Doc set his part of the array on the red sand.

"Shepard, roger that. We'll keep monitoring you from here. Command-Actual out."

Genna set her transmitter down in the sand, but something was bugging her. She calibrated the equipment quickly, and by the time she finished, she'd put her finger on it. "Doc?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"How the hell did miss this? This thing must have been here for… Well, for a long damn time. Why didn't we see this earlier?" Genna snorted. "Someone screwed up badly."

"The press is going to have a field day with this. 'European Martian Settlement Misses Alien Crashsite for Over Two Years.' I'm just glad we found it before the Chinese or Americans got a city out here," Doc said as he finished his own setup. "Okay." He cued his wristpad. "Command, we're synced to the transmitter and the array. We're beginning our descent to the site now. Over."

"Shepard, roger that. We're already receiving information from your scanner. We're picking up things we've never seen before. Watch your backs down there. Over," Erickson said.

Doc took his first steps into the crater. "Command, noted. We'll be fine. Moving to open coms protocol now. Out." He pressed another few keys on his pad, and the entire team's radios linked up directly to command and began transmission.

"Smile for the cameras, boys. The whole world's watching," Genna muttered.

"Heard," Manny replied.

The trio slowly made their way down the steep path that Shepard chose. It was slow going, but Genna didn't want to fall down and break her neck. Especially on camera. Her mom would kill her.

Finally, they reached the bottom. Up close, Genna could really appreciate the artistic structure of the crashed vessel. The cut and dry corner aesthetic that human vessels displayed was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the edges of the hull were curved. Genna could barely make out etchings of some kind in the material. It seemed to have been made out of an unknown blue metal, but Genna couldn't tell for certain because of the Martian dust. She looked at what appeared to be one of the ends of the ship. A hole, possibly created by an explosion of some kind, gave a glimpse into the dark interior of the ship. The hole looked large enough that a human could fit inside.

"Okay…" Doc said. "I'm stepping inside." With that, he stepped inside. Genna and Manny followed afterward.

The three of them activated their helmet flashlights. The interior of the ship was very similar to the outside. The blue metal was artistically carved, and the floor was covered in the same red dust.

"Looks like this has been here for a century!" Genna remarked. "So much dust."

"Doc, Loca. Is it just me, or does this look like some kind of engine room?" Manny stood at the end of a hallway and pointed inside a room.

Genna strode over, and her mouth dropped in shock. Walls lined with computers, an enormous device that Genna guessed was an engine, and—

"Oh my God. Is that a body?"

Doc's head jerked up at the sound of Genna's voice. "What? Let me see!"

Just inside the engine room, there lay a facedown figure. It was human shaped, and Genna wouldn't have even guessed that it was an alien if she weren't standing inside a crashed spaceship.

Manny and Doc walked over to it. "Want me to turn it over, sir?"

Doc nodded. "Do it."

The driver stooped over and gently flipped the corpse on to its side. The creature's space suit was mostly intact, but when he flipped the body over, they got a look at its helmet. The face mask was completely shattered, and they could see the face beneath it.

"_Merde._ That's… That's a woman."

The alien's face was perfectly preserved by Mars' sub -100 C temperatures. Genna could see the frozen expression on the blue features. Fear.

"Okay… Genna, take a look at the rest of the room. Manny, I want you looking down the hallway. See what else you can find. I'm going to do a quick investigation of the body, then keep going. We only have a few hours, so we need to move fast."

Genna stepped past him and faced the computers. She heard Doc's voice over the radio.

"Okay… The alien appears female, and it looks like it's a mammal. It has two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two legs, and two arms. It also has mammaries… Its skin is dark blue. It looks almost purple. I can't tell how much is pigmentation and how much is from the freezing. Body looks to be in perfect condition. I'm removing the helmet now to get a better look…"

Genna tapped a display screen with her hand. She glanced down and saw what appeared to be a keyboard. She hunched over to examine it more closely.

"Dear God. She has tentacles on her head. No hair, just tentacles. They're rigid, but that could be from the exposure. Uh, it doesn't respond to touch at all… Examining the rest of the body. God, this suit is amazing. It's incredibly thin."

Genna carefully pressed a button with a forefinger.

_THHHHHRRRRRRMMMMMM…._

"What the hell was that?" Manny shouted from another room.

Lights appeared on all the consoles save three, and the room glowed with a white light as illuminated panels activated. "_Teur shall kish'a mel. Tuva'an exart mel abva. Minta ballat. Sica, ballat. Sica, ballat. Sica, ballat." _An oddly inflected voice chimed over an ancient intercom system.

"The ship still has power…" Doc said breathlessly. "Who the _hell_ were these people? Their ship is long dead, and their tech still works!"

"Doc, I found something up here!" Manny's excited voice boomed. "It looks like a the ship's bridge! I see a console over here. I'm gonna try to get to— _Shit!_"

Genna heard an enormous crash, and the entire engine room was suddenly filled with an inordinately loud blaring through the recently activated sound system.

_BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT!_

"Manny, what did you do?" Doc shouted. He left the alien corpse on the floor and went after the other man. Genna raced after him. The two sprinted down the now bright corridor all the to the end. They came to another room which did, indeed, look to be a bridge, albeit a destroyed one.

Manny lay on the floor holding his suit. "I've got a puncture!" he shouted.

"God damn it!" Doc grabbed the backpack off the driver's back. He quickly pulled out an emergency reseal pack. "Genna, help me!"

Genna scrambled to beside him. Together, the activated the reseal and quickly placed it over the hole in Manny's suit.

"It… Pressure is green. I'm sealed," Manny said. he gasped and held his head. The blaring alarm continued in the background.

"What happened, Manny?" Doc asked.

"Was heading for the console here." Manny tapped the console beside him. He nodded toward the floor beside where he sat. "Tripped on that…" It was another corpse. He held up a pointed shard of metal. "Got poked. God, I almost died…"

_BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT!_

"Okay, why is that alarm going? How do we shut it off? Did you press something, Manny?" Doc asked.

"Hell if I know…" Genna muttered.

"I think I… Ugh, I think I hit that red button on the console."

Genna turned to face the console. One large red button flashed, pulsating to the same beat as the alarm.

"Genna, does that look like a distress beacon to you?"

"Yeah, it does," Genna replied to Doc.

"How d'you think we turn it off?" Doc stepped behind her and looked over her shoulder.

"Well, my first instinct is to…" Genna pressed the huge button with the palm of her hand.

_BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! BvvvvvvvvAAAAAAT! Bvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv…_

The alarm powered off, and silence reigned in the ship once more.

Doc squeezed her shoulder. "Great work!"

"I wouldn't pull out the champagne just yet…" She pointed at the console. "It's probably just on silent." The red light kept flashing.

"Oh, crap."

"Shepard, what the hell is going on down there?" De Palma's voice cut through the silence over the radio. "Our sensors are being flooded with that same signal! It's everywhere, and it's _strong_! Whatever you did down there, people all the way on _Earth_ are going to be picking this up! Over."

Doc turned to face Genna. "Any ideas on actually turning it off?"

Genna rolled her eyes. "Why do I have to do everything…"

* * *

><p><em>-MFV Olan. <em>1.65 Light-Years for the Sol System. December 24, 1 BFC (2107 CE), 0445 TST.

Captain Jaez'Koris vas Olan stood on the bridge of his vessel. He gazed through his environmental suit's visor to look at the viewscreen. He shook his head.

"Captain, the away team has returned," Shae'Krel vas Olan, his executive officer, said. "The airlocks are sealed, and they have entered decontamination."

"Good," Jaez replied. He continued to look at the derelict ship displayed on the viewscreen. "Another wasted day. Nothing salvageable."

"There will be something, Captain." Shae walked over to stand next to him. "The Ancestors have watched over us so far. They wouldn't let us get this far just to let us die."

Jaez chuckled grimly. The Quarian rubbed his gloved three fingered hand against the command chair in front of him. "Shae, I don't even know what to think about the Ancestors anymore." He'd been the Captain for five years, but he'd never actually touched the material of his chair with his actual hand… "All I know is that we can't return to the fleet empty-handed once again. The _Kera_ lost its verras crop last week. I just received the tight-beam from the Admirals."

Shae gasped. "_Keelah…_ No."

"Food was short as it is. Losing a whole crop? Rationing is even stricter now, and the Fleet desperately needs salvage to trade just for food. And this is on top of the medical supplies we need. If we can't find anything in the next system… I don't know, Shae. I don't know." Jaez shook his head once more.

"We _will _find something, Captain. We wi—"

"Captain!" Jaez's com officer exclaimed. "I'm picking something up on long range sensors!"

Jaez strode over to the officer. "What is it, Niec?"

Niec'Val pointed his index finger at his display screen. "It's a distress signal! Mass effect amplified. It reads as Asari, from the frequency of the gamma burst. I don't recognize the exact signal. It doesn't match any modern distress calls, but it seems similar to emergency beacons planted on Asari vessels from before their latest fleet hardware update. Anywhere from one to four centuries old."

"An old Asari vessel…" Jaez stroked his helmet where his chin was. The sensors gave the sensation of touching his face, but it didn't feel quite right. "Even an old Asari vessel would have tech beyond what we're using. We haven't found anything here at all. The fleet isn't expecting us back for another few days… Hmm…"

"What are you thinking, sir?" Shae asked.

Jaez held one of his three fingers up for a moment to signal Shae. Jaez cleared his throat. "Niec, where does the signal originate?"

Niec pulled up his starchart. "It's coming from approximately one point seven light years away…" He pressed a few keys. "Ah. Looks like it's coming from system _T10.3M_, also called Hi'Sol. Asari probes indicate one habitable planet… Inhabited by a primitive prespace society. There is a dormant mass relay in orbit around a dwarf planet on the edge of the system. Nothing hostile, and it looks like no one has been to the system in thousands of years. There's just nothing of interest."

"Shae, I'll tell you what I'm thinking." Jaez cracked his neck. "I'm thinking that saving the crew of a damaged Asari vessel might earn a reward from the Citadel. And if there is no crew to rescue… Well, a crashed Asari ship would be its own reward." He smiled beneath his helmet.

Shae nodded. "I quite agree, Captain.

"Com, set a course for Hi'Sol." Jaez sat down in his chair. "Let's see what happens. Engage."

* * *

><p>-...accessing relevant codex entries…<p>

-Wristpad. Invented in the late twenty-first century by the massive company Google2g, the wristpad was the basis for personal technology access before the introduction of Omni-Tools into human society. The wristpad fits onto the wrist and features a touchscreen display. The pad is completely flexible until activated, and then it becomes a nearly perfect interface for controlling tech. The EU adopted it as standard issue for its Martian team in the first year of Lowell City's construction.

-Rovers. Lowell City teams explore the Martian terrain in specialized rovers. The predecessors of the Mako vehicles used by the Alliance in later years, the rovers came equipped with special sensor suites that allowed them to scan for geological abnormalities that air or space probes could not detect. In this way, Lowell City managed to chart much of Mars' terrain before the planet's second settlement was even founded.

-Mass Effect Amplified Beacons. A very expensive piece of technology, a MEAB is a distress signal device created by the Asari. Using this device, a frequency of the radiation spectrum can be amplified and blueshifted, which allows the signal to reach any sensor array at FTL speeds. This effect cannot communicate words, but it can be sent out in specific patterns by controlling the mass effect field. These beacons will signal which type of ship sent out the distress call. Of course, one must know the codes in order to understand them.

**A/N. Thank you all for reading! If you can't tell, this is an AU with a single point of deviation. Most information contained within the fic is derived directly from canon or makes sense to exist in the world. No curveballs here, except as repercussions from a single event: the presence of the Asari scout vessel, or, more specifically, the prevention of the destruction of said vessel due to Com Officer Rika kissing Ensign Teel. Expect more expansion on how this creates an AU in the next A/N!**

**This fic is part of a personal challenge to write 100k words in six months. As such, updates should be fairly regular (once I get into the swing of things with my new job and school). I'm currently beta-less, so if anyone wants to volunteer, it would be much appreciated. Send me a PM and we can talk.**

**Let's see if we can get two reviews and four follows before the next chapter comes out! Any advice appreciated! First Mass Effect fanfic here, so don't hold back!**

**Thank you all again. Welcome to the journey,**

**~Doccular**


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